


Rescue

by islandsmoke



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-01
Updated: 2011-08-01
Packaged: 2020-01-13 01:36:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18458774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/islandsmoke/pseuds/islandsmoke
Summary: Written for the prompt:  What happened to the dragon?





	Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the DH2 Challenge, beta'd by Hogwarts Honey

She had no idea where she was. When she had smashed her way out of Gringotts, her only thought was escape. The cool, delicious air blowing from the North had turned her path that way, and she had flown until her wings, weak from disuse, had forced her down on the rocky shore of a lake. She could barely see; the unaccustomed sunlight pained her eyes. Most of her life had been spent in the dark vaults of the bank, chained and tortured and deprived of the air and the light and the sky. She was hungry and frightened, lost and alone, but at long last she was free.

And she had no idea what to do next.

She hid by the lake for a couple of days, her sight growing a little stronger though her eyes still pained her during the sunlit hours. There were animals nearby that smelled like the food she had been given in the vault, so at night she’d sneak out and snatch one or two. One night humans were waiting for her with a trap. She escaped, but with a deep gash on her foreleg. 

She lay by the lake now, licking her wound. She had to leave, she knew that, but… where could she go?

“I can help with that.”

The dragon’s head whipped up, and she snorted a cloud of smoke and sparks in surprise. Not too far away stood a human. The dragon knew humans, knew that they were not the ones who carried the means of torture into the vaults. She also knew that didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous. Her leg throbbed.

“Your eyes, too. I can put something in them that will take the pain away.”

She didn’t understand the words. She knew a few, but not these, and the tone with which they were spoken was foreign to her as well. It was gentle, calming. She lowered her head and squinted at the man in the moonlight. Odd. The dragon sniffed. He appeared to be covered in dragon hide.

“My name’s Charlie. If you’ll let me, I can help you; take you someplace safe when you’re ready.”

The dragon shook her head as if to clear it. No one had ever spoken to her like this; no one had ever stood in her presence who did not stink of fear and aggression. Who was this strange man whose soft words seemed to resonate within her dragon’s heart even while their meaning alluded her brain?

The dragon belched a jet of flame that roared right by the man. He swayed in the backwash of the blast, his eyes narrowing against the heat and the light, but he didn’t flinch. In fact, he took a step closer.

“It’s all right. No one will ever hurt you again. I promise.”

And the dragon knew where she would go.

~~*~~


End file.
